The demand for convenience food has steadily increased in recent years. As people look to find ways to maximize their free time, ready-made meals and snack products have become increasingly popular with consumers. Most households now have a microwave oven to assist in the rapid heating of food. Accordingly, a large number of ready-made meals and snacks have been developed which can be heated in a microwave oven.
While these types of snacks and meals can be quickly heated in a microwave oven, the types of meals and snacks that are suitable for heating in such ovens are, to some extent, limited. For example, snacks of a type which have a filling surrounded by a crispy coating cannot be satisfactorily prepared in a microwave oven. This is because steam, generated during the heating process by evaporation of water from the filling, is deleterious to the organoleptic qualities of the coating. Indeed, the steam penetrates the outer coating rendering it moist, soggy and unappetizing. Such crispy-coated products can only be satisfactorily prepared by heating in a conventional oven, or frying in oil to maintain crispness. This considerably lengthens the time required to prepare such snacks, thus making them far less convenient to prepare.